Game Awards return in December with live-streamed broadcast available in VR

The Game Awards, video game journalist Geoff Keighley’s annual gaming showcase event, will return in December with a live-streamed ceremony honoring the year’s best multiplatform releases.

Pitching this year’s ceremony as “one of the most widely distributed digital events in history,” The Game Awards’ organizers revealed plans to host “a first-of-its-kind live VR broadcast with NextVR” from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

The upcoming event marks the Game Awards’ third annual ceremony. In addition to honoring standout games across multiple categories, the Game Awards will reveal a slate of previously unannounced upcoming releases during hosted segments throughout the show.

Gamers will have multiple options when viewing the Game Awards this year, as the event will be broadcast live via Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Steam, Facebook, and NextVR’s virtual reality platform. The ceremony will also be simulcast in China as part of a partnership with Chinese media company Tencent.

“Video games have the power to unite communities from all over the world, and this year we will share the power of gaming with more people than ever before,” Keighley, the Game Awards creator and producer, said.

“For 2016, we will expand our all-digital, no-friction path to global distribution through partnerships that include the first live awards show broadcast on Twitter, an initiative with Tencent to bring The Game Awards live to China, and our innovative, first-of-its-kind live VR broadcast with NextVR.”

Nominees for this year’s event have not yet been named, but viewers can expect to see intense competition across categories like Best Independent Game, Developer of the Year, and Game of the Year. Developer CD Projekt Red made an especially strong showing during last year’s ceremony, where its landmark RPG The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt was named Best Role-Playing Game and Game of the Year.